UC-NRLF 



. 



THE 



JFE AND UKARA 



FSB. 29, 1888. 




LIBRARY 

OF THK 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 

OI K T OK 




Received 



JU4+4. ^97 

Accession No. (3 & ? Jl" Class No. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



ON THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



SETH C. MOFFATT 

(A REPRESENTATIVE FROM MICHIGAN), 



DELIVERED IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 



FIFTIETH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1889. 




K 



Joint resolution to print twelve thousand five hundred copies of the eulogies on SETH C. 
MOFFATT, late a Representative in Congress. 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That there be printed of the 
eulogies delivered in Congress upon the late SETH C. MOFFATT, a Repre 
sentative in the Fiftieth Congress from the State of Michigan, twelve thour 
sand five hundred copies, of which three thousand copies shall be for the use 
of the Senate and nine thousand five hundred for the use of the House of 
Representatives; and the Secretary of the Treasury be,, and he is hereby, 
directed to have printed a portrait of the said SETH C. MOFFATT, to accom 
pany said eulogies; and for the purpose of engraving and printing said 
portrait the sum of five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be 
necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not 
otherwise appropriated. 

Approved, May 21, 1888. _ 

2 662-^ 



UIIVBKSITY 




PROCEEDIXGS IX THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



DECEMBER 22, 1887. 

Mr. BURROWS. Mr. Speaker, it becomes my painful duty, 
on behalf of the Michigan delegation, to announce to this 
House the death of our esteemed colleague, Hon. SETH C. 
MOFFATT, who died in this city this morning, at half past 7 
o clock. 

In his death the delegation feels a personal bereavement. 
Those who had the pleasure of his acquaintance, I am sure, 
feel the loss of a genial and true-hearted friend. The State 
has lost a wise and able counselor. 

This is not the Jtime for eulogy. On some more fitting oc 
casion we shall ask the House to join us in a further tribute 
to his memory. For the present I offer the resolutions I 
send to the desk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the House has heard with sincere regret the announce 
ment of the death of Hon. SETH C. MOFFATT, late a Representative from 
the State of Michigan. 

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That 
a select joint committee, consisting of seven members of the House and 
three members of the Senate, be appointed to take order for superintend 
ing the funeral and to escort the remains of the deceased to their place 
of burial; and the necessary expenses attending the execution of this order 
be paid out of the contingent fund of the House. 

Resolved, That the Serg eant-at-Arnis of the House be authorized and 
directed to take such steps as may be necessary for properly carrying out 
the provisions of these resolutions. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate the foregoing resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved. That as a further mark of respect to the nif mory of the de 
ceased the House do now adjourn. 

3 



4 Life and Character of Setli C. Moffatt. 

The SPEAKER. Before submitting the resolutions the 
Chair desires to state that if the resolutions be adopted the 
committee, with the consent of the House, will be selected 
after the adjournment, and the Chair will cause the names 
to be entered upon the Journal of its proceedings. 

There was no objection, and it was so ordered. 

The following committee was appointed by the Speaker: 
Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan; Mr. Brewer, of Michigan; Mr. 
Wade, of Missouri; Mr. Fisher, of Michigan; Mr. Ford, of 
Michigan; Mr. Lyman, of Iowa, and Mr. Shively, of Indiana. 

The resolutions of Mr. Burrows were then unanimously 
agreed to; and accordingly the House adjourned. 

FEBRUARY 29, 1888.. 

The SPEAKER pro iempore. The time has arrived for the 
special order to be taken up, which the Clerk will report. 
The Clerk read as follows: 

Ordered, That February 29, 1888, at 3 o clock p. m., be set apart for 
the consideration of resolutions relating to the death of Hon. SETH C. 
MOFFATT. 



ADDRESS OF MR. BURROWS, OF MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Speaker, this hour, by common consent of the mem 
bership of the House, has been set apart for the purpose 
of paying tribute to the memory of our deceased colleague, 
Hon. SETH C. MOFFATT. This high mark of respect will 
be appreciated by the people of his district, who, regardless 
of party affiliations, were personally attached to him, by 
the State which always delighted to honor him, and by his 
family, whose loss is irreparable. 

It was not my good fortune to have known Mr. MOFFATT 
long, having never met him until 1884; but I knew him 
long enough and well enough to know the manliness of his 
character and the sincerity of his friendship. I can not,, 
therefore, forbear this tribute before I offer the resolutions 
which I send to the desk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the business of the House be suspended, that suitable 
honors may be paid to the memory of Hon. SETH C. MOFFATT, late a 
Representative from the State of Michigan. 

Resolved, That in the death of Mr. MOFFATT the country has sustained 
the loss of a safe legislator, a patriotic citizen, and an able and faithful 
public servant. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to his memory the House, 
at the conclusion of these ceremonies, shall adjourn. 

Resolved, That the House communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 



Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 



ADDRESS OF MR. ALLEN, OF MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Speaker, it is not, sir, among the least of the glories 
of this Republic that here men can rise to eminence and 
power independently of the accident of birth. The only 
blue blood which is recognized among us is that which 
throbs from honest hearts to feed healthy brains, and the 
only success that men achieve in this country is a success 
founded upon what is within themselves. 

It is the lot of most men who rise to high positions in this 
Republic to have been born of poor parentage and in early 
life to have known what it is to be hampered by the hard 
lines of poverty. These obstacles, which in any other na 
tion would thwart and prevent the rise of nine out of ten, 
in a republic are what impel men to do those things that 
finally make a character that the world recognizes and re 
spects. 

Mr. MOFFATT was one of these. He had no aids except 
those which God had given him. He had to hew his way 
to eminence and power by his innate industry and worth, 
and he achieved what few men do success while at the 
same time preserving in every relation of life the most per 
fect integrity. 

If we look to see upon what foundation his character was 
built we will find at its base integrity. No man ever lived 
who was defrauded by SETH C. MOFFATT. No man ever 
lived who carried away from his presence a feeling that he 
had been wronged. No man could ever lay at his door cor 
ruption. He stood pre-eminently upon moral principles in 
all his dealings with his fellow-men. Combined with this 
was a gentleness like that of a woman. 

He never, no matter by what excitement he might be sur 
rounded, gave way to impetuosity or to anger. But with 



Address of Mr. Allen, of Michigan. 7 

that gentleness was coupled a firmness that withstood all 
obstacles. With a frail body he had a spirit of indomitable 
courage, and that spirit never did and never would yield at 
any point where his convictions were the other way. Upon 
this foundation he built that manly character and achieved 
that reputation which will go along with the history of the 
great State of which he was such an important and beloved 
citizen. 

How suddenly the summons came to him ! On that after 
noon when he left this Hall, whoever else might have walked 
with him, in the corridor he was joined by the sweet angel 
of death, who locked arras and walked beside him until his 
spirit beheld the land that is afar off," and saw the King 
in his beauty." When those mortal eyes became oblivious 
to the scenes about him, when those mortal ears were 
stopped, the spirit still lingered in that frail tenement of 
clay. Where it was wandering then I know not, but I know 
that he had a faith that was sufficient for that hour which 
comes to each. I have no doubt that although the earthly 
tenement was unable to make any sign, the spirit was active 
in contemplating those wonderful scenes where it now is, 
and as it waited it could say: 

And so, beside the silent sea 

I wait the muffled oar; 
No harm can ever come to me 

On ocean or on shore. 
I know not where His islands lift 

Their fronded palms in air, 
I only know I can not drift 

Beyond His love and care. 

And so this spirit with which we were so familiar went 
out from among us, never to return. How grand is the 
thought, how consoling is it to men who do think, that a 
spirit thus coming from God goes back to Him, there to in 
crease in glory and power as long as the ages of eternity 
shall roll ! He died young in years: but, sir, while it is true 



8 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

that "our time is a very shadow that passeth away," it is 
also true that honorable age is not that which standeth in 
length of time nor that is measured by numbers of years, 
but wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted 
life is old age." 

The great work laid upon his two-score years 
Is done, and well done. If we drop our tears 
We mourn no blighted hope nor broken plan 
With him whose life stands rounded and approved 
In the full growth and stature of a man. 



ADDRESS OF MR, WADE, OF MISSOURI. 

Mr. Speaker, my acquaintance with Mr. MOFFATT began 
at the opening of the first session of the Forty-ninth Con 
gress. Chance in drawing seats placed me by his side, and 
during the latter part of that session we jointly occupied a 
suite of rooms, and for months were as intimately associated 
as two members of a common family. 

Thus situated I had every opportunity to study his char 
acter, to know its strength and weakness, and while I do not 
say he was without faults, I do say that he came as near 
filling my idea of the true man as any I had ever known. 
He was ambitious only to serve his constituents faithfully, 
strong in his affections and convictions, clear in judgment, 
fertile in expedient, courageous in action, ready in conclu 
sion, honest and just in dealings, generous to a fault, and 
unselfish and devoted in his friendship. 

It is no wonder, then, sir, possessing as he did all these 
ennobling traits of mind and heart, that he drew around 
him warm and devoted friends, was successful in his. pro 
fession and honored by his fellow-citizens. 

Commencing life with no aid save that of a clear head 
and willing hands, he soon occupied a prominent position 



Address of Mr. Wade, of Missouri. 9 

in his profession and had laid the foundation for a substan 
tial fortune. 

It has been said that some men achieve honors, others 
have them thrust upon them. In his case honors were thrust 
upon him. He filled many important offices in his State, 
was speaker of its house of representatives, was twice elected 
a member of this House, yet never sought an office. But I 
shall not speak of his history and acts before he came to 
Congress. 

As a member of this House he was prompt in attendance, 
at all times thoroughly acquainted with its business, and 
was perhaps the best informed man in the rules and parlia 
mentary usages governing it of any of its members whose 
term of service was no longer than his. His quick discern 
ment, ready comprehension, and retentive memory, together 
with the ability to bring the full strength of his mind and 
all of his information to bear on a given subject, peculiarly 
fitted him for a parliamentarian. 

The measure of a member s usefulness, and this is es 
pecially true of a new one, is determined by the bills he 
succeeds in passing directly benefiting the constituency he 
represents. Measuring SETH C. MOFFATT by this standard, 
it would prove him the most useful member Michigan ever 
sent to this House. Before he came to Congress his district 
had been represented by men of commanding ability, men 
who had earned a national reputation, yet when we contrast 
what they did for the district with what he did we find that 
he accomplished more in one Congress than they did in many. 

Had the river and harbor bill become a law by the signa 
ture of the President, the works which would have been 
constructed under it for the benefit and protection of the 
shipping interest of our Great Lakes would have been mon 
uments to his energy, industry, and ^gislative ability, which 



10 Life and Character of Setli C. Moffatt. 

would nave stood for all time, and his grateful constituency, 
looking upon them, would have said, " Well done, good and 
faithful servant." 

I do not know, Mr. Speaker, that there is a supernatural 
or other influence which comes to us and gives notice that 
the time has almost come when we will lay down life bur 
dens, and all the ties binding us to earth will be severed. 
But I have heard it said that when those who, possessing a 
bright hope of a glorious immortality, were just passing 
under the shadows of the clouds of the valley of death, their 
feet just touching the waters of the dark river, they would 
appear to be under an influence not earthly, would speak of 
scenes most wonderful in beautiful language, and while they 
thus talked the air would seem filled with the grand har 
mony of that song sung by the angels and spirits of the 
just when a redeemed soul enters the gates of the crystal 
city. 

But I do know, Mr. Speaker, that on the last night which 
our dead colleague spent on earth when conscious, when 
there was no sound in the room in which we were audible 
to me, but perhaps to him the fluttering of the wings of 
the Angel of Death, he talked to me as he had never done 
before. I wish now, because of his death, which came so 
suddenly that his wife and children were not present, that 
the power might be given me to turn back the wheels of 
time to that evening, or that I might have the power to re 
produce the ocene and enable his wife to hear what he said 
of her. If she could hear that conversation, she would learn 
that of all things earthly she was the dearest to him. Could 
she have heard him say as he did to me, " Oh, how I wish 
my wife were here, that she might take my hand in hers, 
that I might feel the influence of her presence, for I know I 
could then sleep," she would have known that he wished for 



Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan. \ \ 

her more than all others. And I would have her listen to 
other words expressive of tender love and holy affection that 
I might here repeat did I not believe them too holy for even 
this occasion. Could I do this, Mr. Speaker, I am sure Mrs. 
Moffatt would go away thanking God for the love of her 
husband, and that the words she had heard spoken would 
be a well-spring of joy each day of the journey of life which 
she now treads alone. 

I would bring the children to this scene and have them 
hear him speak of his affection for and trust in them, and I 
am sure they would go away inspired by a determination 
never to do anything to bring discredit upon their father s 
honored name. 

Mr. Speaker, I believe that sorrow is the deepest, most 
felt, which is not spoken; and were it not the custom to 
speak on such occasions as this, I should have remained 
silent. The sentence which I have spoken, the words I have 
used, neither convey my idea of the worth nor express my 
sorrow for the loss which I in common with others have 
sustained in the death of SETH MOFFATT. To his family I 
extend my warmest sympathy, to his State my regrets, to 
the members of the House rny sorrow, and for myself I 
would say that a bright friendship has gone out of my life 
forever and its place I do not hope to see filled. 



ADDRESS OF MR. CUTCHEON, OF MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Speaker, once more we have halted for a little hour 
in the great march of events to decorate a new-made grave. 
Once more the shadow of a dark wing falls across our path 
way, and a sudden chill admonishes us of the nearness of an 
unseen presence. 



12 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

Death is as universal as life itself. It is the one fact that 
must come to all mortality. Soon or late, to every one of 
us will come the relentless messenger with the stern com 
mand, " Come ! " and we shall all " leave our mirth and our 
employments and shall come." No pleadings of engage 
ments here, no excuse of unpreparedness, no influence of 
the powerful or prayers of the loving can stay the stern de 
cree or buy off the grim executioner. 

We go out into the busy, thronging street, into the swarm 
ing haunts of men, into the crowded gatherings of youth 
and beauty or of the strength and splendor of manhood and 
womanhood, and life seems to press in full and swelling 
tides everywhere. The flashing eye, the mantling cheek, 
the eloquent lip, the rounded and exuberant form, all tell 
of an overflowing vitality, an all-pervading life. And yet 
by the side of each one lurks even now the unperceived 
shadow, too impalpable as yet to be discerned, but just as 
real and as certain as the presence of life. Yet when the 
shadow reveals itself, when the clearly foreseen and inevita 
ble hour comes, it comes with the surprise and shock of a 
mystery and a calamity. 

This was the shock that came to me when on the morning 
of the 22d of December last, as I walked up the avenue 
to this Capitol, I saw the flag over the House ascend until it 
stopped at half-mast, and then, seemingly refusing to go to 
the peak, hung drooping and sorrow-laden midway on the 
staff ; and as I looked it came to me, with an apprehension 
as if a voice had spoken it, that SETH C. MOFFATT was dead. 

And such proved to be the fact. 

Already the intelligence had sped on lightning wings to 
his distant home, and to meet his broken-hearted wife, as 
she was hastening to his side, and out into the wide country 
from ocean to ocean. 



Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan. 13 

How various was the meaning of thai message to those to 
whom it caine ! 

To the stranger to whom it was only the mention of a 
name; to the people of his State, which he had served in 
many public capacities; to his constituents, who had learned 
to look to him as a trusted leader and representative; to his 
neighbors, who had witnessed his growth and success with 
pride, and to the family whose life was bound in closest ties 
with his own. 

The spotless snows of northern Michigan lie thick and 
silent now above the snowy forehead and the folded hands. 

The frost-laden winds of Grand Traverse Bay, on whose 
picturesque shores he spent all his manhood years, now 
sweep through the branches of the sighing pines that stand 
as stately sentinels above his grave, while we, his colleagues, 
gather here about the seat he lately occupied, to pay our 
tribute of respect to his life and memory. 

SETH C. MOFFATT was born at Battle Creek, in the State 
of Michigan, August 10, 1841. He died in the city of Wash 
ington, December 22, 1887, and was buried at Traverse City, 
Mich., December 26, 1887. 

Embraced within the parentheses of these dates was a life 
of earnest endeavor, of unsullied honor, of usefulness to 
his community, State, and nation, and crowned with a large 
measure of the Appreciation of his fellow-citizens. 

Born to that best estate of our American society, the intel 
ligent middle class, he was neither fettered by the unhappy 
limitations of actual poverty nor enervated by the seduc 
tions of wealth, which might relieve him of the beneficent 
necessity for effort and honorable work. 

His boyhood was that of the average Michigan boy of 
forty years ago, when none were rich, when work was hon 
orable to all, and indolence was discreditable to any. His 



14 Life and Character of Seth C, Moffatt. 

early tuition was that of the public common school, that 
great equalizer of American citizenship, in which he made 
such good progress that in the fall of 1858 he removed with 
his parents to Colon, in St. Joseph County, where for two 
years he engaged in teaching, at the same time preparing 
himself for college. In I860 he entered the literary depart 
ment of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. I was 
then in my last undergraduate year in that institution, 
and I still remember well the slight, smooth-faced boy who 
then came, to us. 

One peculiar physical characteristic, which must have 
struck all who ever became acquainted with him, impressed 
me the first time I ever met him; it was the extreme small- 
ness of his hand. It was as slender and flexible as a girl s. 

The acquaintance then begun was never long interrupted 
until his death, and by the appointment of this House it was 
my melaiichqly duty to stand by his open grave when under 
the wintry skies of his northern home he was laid in his last 
resting place. 

I know not what changed his original purpose, whether 
it was pecuniary considerations or an impatience to engage 
in the actual work of life, but, for whatever cause, at the 
end of one year he abandoned the literary course and entered 
the law school of the University of Michigan, from which 
he graduated in 1863. During his last year in the law school 
he was a part of the time employed in the office of Hon. 
Thomas M. Cooley, then dean of the faculty and justice of 
the supreme court of Michigan, and now the distinguished 
jurist and chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commis 
sion. 

After his graduation and admission to the bar he entered 
the law office of Hon. Byron D. Ball, of Grand Rapids, 
Mich, (afterward attorney-general of the State), where he 



Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan. 15- 

remained until the spring of 1804, when lie removed to 
Lyons, in Ionia County, where he began the practice of the 
law. As fate would have it, to this same county of Ionia I 
came also, in the summer of I860, to engage in the practice 
of the law, having in the mean time served three years in 
the Army and graduated from the same Michigan law 
school, and so once more our paths ran together. 

In the fall of 1800 Mr. MOFFATT was a candidate before 
the Republican county convention for the nomination of 
circuit court commissioner, but was beaten by a young one- 
armed soldier lately home from the war and also commenc 
ing the practice of the law, and now a justice of the su 
preme court of Michigan, Hon. A. Benton Morse. Shortly 
before this time the county of Leelanaw had been organ 
ized. The county was new and they were short of mate 
rial for prosecuting attorney. Mr. MOFFATT was urged to 
come to Leelauaw County. He did so ; and while yet only 
constructively a resident of that county he was nominated 
for the office of prosecuting attorney and duly elected, an 
office he continued to hold for four years. At the same time 
he was appointed deputy collector of customs at Northport. 

Again, in 18G7, it happened that I followed Mr. MOF- 
FATT S movement northward and put out my sign in the 
infant city of Manistee, so that once more Mr. MOFFATT and 
myself were brought into the same legislative, senatorial, 
and Congressional districts. 

In the autumn of 1870, at a senatorial convention held in 
my own town, and over which I had the honor to preside, 
Mr. MOFFATT was nominated for State senator. He was 
elected and served for two years with marked ability, and 
at the end of that time was appointed by the governor, Hon. 
John J. Bagley, a member of the constitutional commission 
to revise the constitution of the State. He acquitted him 
self as an efficient member of that body. 



16 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

Meanwhile the legislature, of which he was a member, 
had made a new Congressional apportionment of the State, 
creating the new Ninth district, embracing all the district 
recently represented by Mr. MOFFATT (the Eleventh), and 
also all the counties embraced in the present Ninth district 
excepting Muskegon. In August, 1872, the first Republican 
convention met in the new district to nominate a candidate 
for Congress. The district was strongly Republican, and 
a nomination was considered equivalent to an election. 
. There were four candidates before the convention, among 
whom Mr. MOFFATT stood second in point of strength. 
The leading candidate was Hon. Hiram A. Burt, of Mar- 
quette, and after Mr. MOFFATT came Hon. Jay A. Hubbell, 
of Houghton, while Hon. D. L. Filer had the two votes of 
Mason County. After balloting all the afternoon a combi 
nation was formed among the minor candidates. An ar 
rangement was made that all the anti-Burt votes should be 
thrown to Mr. MOFFATT three times, unless a nomination was 
sooner reached; then all should be thrown to Mr. Hubbell in 
like manner for three times, unless a nomination was made 
before that number of ballots. Each delegate had half a 
vote, and on the third ballot Mr. MOFFATT lacked only one- 
half a vote of sufficient to nominate him. Then the combi 
nation cast their votes for Mr. Hubbell, and on the second 
ballot he was nominated, having secured the vote of the 
one delegate necessary. Mr. Hubbell was elected, and con 
tinued the Representative of that district for ten years and 
until the present apportionment was made. Thus for the 
want of a single vote Mr. MOFFATT was delayed twelve years 
in his entry upon Congressional life. 

In 1874 Mr. MOFFATT was appointed register of the 
United States land office at Traverse City, Mich., and in 
consequence of this appointment he removed to that place, 
where he continued to reside until his death. 



Address of Mr. CntcJteon, of Michigan. 17 

He continued to hold the office of register until the land 
office was removed to Reed City, in 1878. In the latter 
year he was elected prosecuting attorney for Grand Trav 
erse County, and in 1880 he was elected a representative 
in the legislature, and on the convening of that body he 
was selected as speaker of the house. The session had 
hardly more than fairly commenced when he was stricken 
down with typhoid fever, which kept him from the duties 
of his office during most of the session and at one time 
threatened a fatal termination. 

During his incumbency of the speakership a new Con 
gressional apportionment was made, and Mr. MOFFATT S 
county, with three other small counties, was detached from 
the Lower Peninsula, * and with the " Upper Peninsula" 
constituted the new Eleventh district. 

In ISS-^ Mr. MOFFATT S friends, after a lapse of ten years, 
again pressed him for the Congressional nomination, but 
the Hon. Edward Breitung, of Marquette County, was the 
successful candidate. Mr. Breitung s failing health con 
strained him to decline a renomination, and Mr. MOFFATT, 
in 1884, succeeded in securing the nomination which hud 
eluded him by so narrow a margin in 1872. He was elected 
by a majority of more than 7,000, and in 1880 he was renom- 
inated without opposition and re-elected to the Fiftieth 
Congress. 

Of his career in this House it is unnecessary for me to 
speak. He was a quiet and unostentatious member, never 
conspicuous, and yet he brought about results without ap 
pearing to exert himself. He took a profound interest in 
the commercial development of his district and was ever on 
the alert for any measure that promised well for the up 
building of the great interests intrusted to his care. At the 
time of his unexpected and lamented death he was planning 
H. Mis. 577 t 



18 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

large things for the improvement of the great northern 
waterway from the new Northwest to the sea. 

Mr. Speaker, I shall not prolong this brief sketch of his 
life by any attempt to analyze his character. I shall leave 
that for others, with only a few words. One of the great 
secrets of his success, perhaps the chief one, was that he was 
a friendly man. He was essentially of the people. He never 
put any distance between him and the humblest or least 
cultured man. He met and greeted all in a friendly way. 
The same traits served him as a lawyer. He made friends 
with juries and gained their confidence, and he impressed a 
conviction of his sincerity upon the court. In the political 
campaign he made votes not so much by speeches or by pub 
lic meetings as by mingling freely among the people, not 
with an assumed cordiality, but with a genuine and natu 
ral sincerity and real friendliness. He managed campaigns 
in such a quiet way that he did not appear to manage at all. 
He was an excellent judge of human nature. He knew upon 
whom to depend and where not to put his trust, and he was 
rarely mistaken in his judgments. He had a genuine love 
for politics and public life. Few were the State conventions 
of his party after he came to manhood at which the familiar 
face and form of SETH MOFFATT was not seen. He had that 
most desirable faculty for a man in public life, an almost 
intuitive memory of men and names. There was no man of 
any prominence in either party in his State that he did not 
know and meet upon friendly terms. No man in the State 
was more familiar with its political history than Mr. MOF 
FATT. He knew all about the men who had been the lead 
ers in the State from the beginning. He was in no sense an 
idealist nor an extremist, but he was a man of strong con 
victions, and his political allegiance was held with a firm 
and unfaltering devotion. 



Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan. 19 

Such were some of his more noticeable characteristics. 

He was of a genuine American type, developed by our sys 
tem of social equality and our political systemof equal rights 
in government. He came fr&lt; m the people; he was emphat 
ically of the people; and he was most highly esteemed by 
t In-ill. No one who witnessed the universal mourning of the 
community when he was borne to his rest could doubt for a 
moment that he held a place very near to the hearts of the 
people among whom he dwelt. 

It was Christmas morning and all the earth was covered 
with a deep mantle of beautiful fresh-fallen snow which was 
still falling in large feathery flakes when the funeral train 
swept out from the somber pine and hemlock woods of north 
ern Michigan, on to the very shore of Grand Traverse Bay, 
and the long journey of more than a thousand miles from 
this capital to his lakeside home was completed. 

It seemed almost as though the whole community had come 
out on that still Sabbath morning to show their respect for 
their neighbor and friend. Hundreds of hardy workingmen, 
with the business men and professional men, stood with un 
covered heads in the fast-falling gnow as the casket was borne 
from the station to the unpretentious home from which, just 
one month before, he had gone out full of high purpose and 
strong IK )])(-. 

On the following morning, accompanied by a great con 
course of his fellow-citizens of all classes and conditions, we 
bore him to his final rest in.^ place. As we stood by the open 
grave, the clouds, which had hung heavy and snow-laden 
through the morning, parted, and a burst of brilliant sun 
shine out of a blue sky flooded the scene and gilded the white 
earth with a beauty and splendor indescribable. 

There we left him. 

Mr. Speaker, the task which was assigned to us is done. 



UNIVERSITY 




20 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

"We have borne all that was mortal of our late colleague and 
friend from this capital, away beyond the mountains, across 
"the beautiful river," through great commonwealths, to the 
State that gave him birth, and to which he devoted his life; 
past the spot where he was born, 011 the banks of the Kala- 
mazoo; past that modern Athens where he was educated; 
past the beautiful "valley city" where he commenced his 
professional life; past the capital where he presided as speaker 
and discharged the duties of a senator; past all that stands 
for the work and worry, for the stress and struggle of life, 
to that blessed spot, so redolent of all that is sweetest and 
most sacred, of all that is serenest and most restful his 
home. In the midst of the great State where he was .born 
and to which he was ever so loyal, among the constituents 
he represented so ably and faithfully, surrounded by the 
neighbors and friends who loved him and mourn him, and 
the dear ones who cherish his memory as their most sacred 
treasure, we have left him to his quiet sleep. 
May he rest in peace. 



ADDRESS OF MR. FORD, OF MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Speaker, it is with deep sorrow that I arise to pay 
tribute to the memory of my friend and colleague, SETH C. 
MOFFATT. I had known him a long time, and while we 
differed upon political questions, our relations were of the 
most friendly and cordial nature. And I am thankful that 
in all our intercourse no word or action ever occurred to 
interrupt the kindly feeling that existed between us. 

Mr. MOFFATT was a native of the State whose district he 
represented, being born in Battle Creek, Mich., in 1841. He 
received a common-school education, and graduated at the 



Address of Mr. Ford, of JficJiiyan. 21 

law school of the Michigan University. Many times hud 
the people reposed confidence in him. He was a member of 
the State senate in 1871- 72, a member of the constitutional 
commission of 1873, and was speaker of the Michigan house 
of representatives in 1881- 82. He was elected to the Forty- 
ninth and Fiftieth Congresses. He was a thorough and con 
sistent Republican. At the time of his death he was the 
leading apostle of that political faith in the district which he 
represented. But while he was a devotee of the principles, 
of the Republican party, some of his most intimate asso 
ciates were Democrats. He was a man who made friends 
wherever he went, and who had the respect of all who knew 
him, regardless of party. 

It is customary to speak well of those who have passed 
away. The old Latin maxim, "De mortuis nil nisi bonum,"" 
is an excellent one. But in respect to my dead colleague it, 
is not necessary to invoke the application of this maxim,, 
because if we speak truthfully we can say of him nothing 
but good. He was a sterling man, true to the core, liberal 
and magnanimous, with a pure and stainless character. He 
posse-sed the qualities of activity and perseverance in a. 
remarkable degree. He was an indefatigable worker in any 
matter on which he was bent, and no member of this House 
was more industrious in behalf of the interests of his con 
stituents than he. He was of a kind disposition, open-hearted 
and generous, modest and gentle as a woman. 

One would make a mistake to think that under his quiet 
and unostentatious manner there did not lie any resolution 
and firmness. He was peculiarly possessed of those quali 
ties. I remember an instance which well illustrates this. 
When he was a member of the legislature, in 1 881 - 82, he 
was elected speaker of the house. Some time after serving 1 
at the regular session he was taken ill. His indisposition 



22 Life and Character of Setli C. Moffatt, 

was protracted so long that it was feared he would not re 
cover. Right at this time, while he lay upon a sick bed, an 
extra. session of the legislature was called by the governor. 
Thinking that he could not live to assume the duties of 
speaker, many members of the legislature commenced to 
discuss the question as to who should be his successor. Just 
prior to the opening of the session this subject was consid 
erably agitated. But Mr. MOFFATT, with indomitable en 
ergy, arose from his sick bed, and when the hour for the 
convening of the legislature arrived, to the surprise of a 
great many, he appeared in the speaker s chair, weak and 
pale, but very determined, and took the gavel and called the 
house to order. 

When the committee of this House which accompanied 
his remains to their last resting place arrived at his home 
the scenes were touching indeed, and I can fully indorse all 
that has been said in that respect by the gentleman [Mr. 
Cutcheon] who preceded me. I never saw more genuine 
sorrow manifested than at Traverse City when we laid him 
away. The town was draped in mourning, business was 
wholly suspended, and a sadness pervaded the entire com 
munity. Few men in northern Michigan will be missed 
more than he who so lately was with us full of life, hope, 
and ambition. As I stand here it seems but yesterday that 
I sat in this very Hall in friendly converse with him, and to 
day he is clasped in the bosom of the earth and the winter 
snow of the north rests upon his grave. 

As a lawyer he was industrious and successful, as a citizen 
he was high minded and exemplary, and as a friend he was 
staunch and true. By his death this House has been deprived 
of one of its most worthy and able members, his district of 
a faithful and conscientious representative; and his family 
have suffered the irreparable loss of a kind and indulgent 
father, a tender and loving husband. 



Address of Mr. Ford, of Michigan. 23 

He was but forty-six years of age ; an age at which most 
men are considered to be in the prime of life. It is inexpress 
ibly sad that one so beloved, at such an age, right in the 
zenith of his career, when such a fate was least expected, 
when his dear wife and children were a thousand miles away, 
should be so ruthlessly taken by the Angel of Death. But 
Fooiier or later it comes to us all. 

The glories of our mortal state 

Are shadows, not substantial things; 
There is uo armor against fate; 
Death lays his toy hand on kings. 
Scepter and crown 
Must tumble down. 
And in the dust l&gt;e equal made 
With the ixx&gt;r sickle, scythe, and spade. 

His hopes and aspirations are crushed, his family are heart 
broken; but he has gone where no pain, no sorrow, no an 
guish exists. He has been taken to that unknown hereafter 
from whence no traveler returns. 

That there is a hereafter every man, it seems to me, must 
believe. I can not conceive how any one with human in 
stincts can think otherwise. If there exists a person who 
honestly believes that when his eyes are closed in death 
nothing remains, then I say such a person is to be pitied. 
Can it l)e that at the conclusion of man s existence on this 
planet for a comparatively infinitesimal period of time 
can it be, I say, that then, when dust is rendered into dust, 
all is ended ? No. 

When matter and mind are perished and lost, 
And all that we see into chaos is tossed. 
From nothing to nothing we jw-ss out alone, 
Like a flash or an echo, unknown, unknown. 

No word comes back; we know not what awaits us. Still, 
I have something here in my innermost soul which tells me 
that this life is not the end; that beyond all this we have 
a wider, a higher, a nobler destiny. There lies in the hu 
man breast a something which says, This is not all. " What 



24 Life and Character "of Setli C. Moffatt. 

an encouraging hope, what a divine thing it is for this world, 
this belief in a future existence! How could the widow and 
the fatherless children of our dead colleague bear up under 
their unutterable grief if the hope of a future reunion be 
yond the dark valley were taken away ? To teach any 
other belief is unnatural yes, it is monstrous. 

Mr. Speaker, from all earthly scenes my associate is gone 
forever. But he will not be forgotten. His friends will 
ever keep his memory fresh in their hearts. And when the 
glorious summer comes, and the grass grows green, and the 
beautiful Michigan roses blossom on his grave, although 
hushed will be his lips in death, yet the tender blades and 
the perfume of the flowers will speak of him, and to those 
who knew him best will seem to say, "Beneath here sleeps 
one who was kind and noble and true." 



ADDRESS OF MR, GATES, OF ALABAMA. 

Mr. Speaker, I can not permit this melancholy occasion to 
pass without uttering a brief tribute to the memory of my 
departed friend. I met Mr. MOFFATT for the first time in 
the Forty-ninth Congress. I had barely a passing acquaint 
ance with him until we were associated as members of the 
special telephone investigating committee. 

Charges had been made assailing the honor of a member 
of the Cabinet and a number of other high officials, and pub 
lished to the world in many of the leading newspapers. In 
the opinion of the House of Representatives these charges 
required an investigation, which was ordered, and a com 
mittee consisting of four Republican and five Democratic 
members was appointed for the performance of that duty. 
They were confronted by many difficulties, and sat for nearly 



Address of Mr. Oafes, of Alabama. 25 

four months, the greater part of the time during the sessions 
of the House. A large volume of thirteen hundred pages of 
close print attests the work done by the committee. And 
although the report died upon the calendar with the expira 
tion of that Congress, the evidence taken silenced the press 
and satisfied the country. 

Nearly every day of the sessions of the committee contro 
versies arose upon questions involved or incidental to the 
investigation we were instructed to make, which, owing to 
their supposed political significance, provoked unfriendly 
comment and sharp retort, not always unmixed with some 
warmth of feeling, in which nearly all at times participated; 
but Mr. MOFFATT, in strong contrast, was ever calm, amia 
ble, and genial on these occasions. True to his convictions, 
his party, and associates, he was never harsh, extreme, nor 
unfair, but always respectful, considerate, and tolerant of 
the opinions of those with whom he differed. He was never 
radical, but truly conservative in his methods. He acted 
upon the wisdom of the proverb, "A soft answer turneth 
away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger." In debate 
he was earnest, perspicuous, and sensible, rather than elo 
quent. By his urbane, pacific, and respectful demeanor he 
won the esteem and confidence of all of his associates. To 
estimate him at his true merit required an intimate per 
sonal acquaintance, and with those who enjoyed that he 
.steadily grew in all the virtues which adorn true manhood. 

Of the nine members of the committee of which I have 
spoken, he and myself were the only ones elected to the pres 
ent Congress. When it assembled last December I met him 
apparently in good health. He greeted me with that hearty 
cordiality which was a part of his nature and which made 
him so estimable and popular. His prospects for a long and 
useful life were then apparently much greater than those of 



26 Life and Character of Setli C\ Moffatt. 

most of us who have survived him. But, alas ! he has met 
that fate which is our common heritage, and passed over the 
river to repose peacefully in the shade of the trees upon the 
other side. 



ADDRESS OF MR. O DONNELL, OF MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Speaker, upon the assembling of the Forty-ninth 
Congress for the first time two members to whom I shall 
allude took their places in this Chamber. The elder came 
from the State of Louisiana, the younger from Michigan. 
They were much alike; in features there was some resem 
blance; both had held important trusts from their fellow- 
citizens. By nature they were reticent and retiring, but men 
of firm convictions. They were strangers when they came; 
in the drawing of seats they chose places in close proximity. 
The peculiar qualities and" endowments of each attracted 
one to the other, and in a short time a warm friendship grew 
up. In a few months one was seized with an illness which 
in a brief time proved fatal. In his apartments, alone, while 
battling with death, the life blood welled up and he was 
found lying dead, his face to the morning stars, 110 longer 
ignorant of their solemn mysteries in his silent sleep. The 
survivor of the dual friendship grieved for his own and the 
country s loss. He served his term and so well did he de 
mean himself that he was again commissioned to represent 
his people. At the convening of this Congress, he chose his 
accustomed place and entered upon his duties. In a few 
days a slight indisposition, assailed him, and the feeble frame 
yielded to the malady which poisoned the vital current, and, 
like his friend of two years agone, he suddenly crossed the 
line that divides time from eternity was taken from earth 



Address of J/r. O Donnell, of Michigan. 27 

to the land where the soul wears its mantle of glory. They 
are released from earthly labor, and, like the soldiers of Ma 
homet, were speech a gift of the dead, would say, "In Para 
dise we shall rest." 

Mr. Speaker, when the first of these was called away his 
colleagues invited me to pay a tribute to his memory. To 
this I acceded, and to-day, at these memorial services, in 
obedience to the wishes of his associates and to keep a prom 
ise to the dead a pledge lightly exacted and more lightly 
given, but here solemnly redeemed I attempt to weave a 
chaplet to the worth of my friend and late co-worker. 

SETH C. MOFFATT, whose loss we deplore to-day, was born 
in the year 1841, at Battle Creek, Mich., a pleasant city in 
the district which I have the honor to represent. In that 
place his youth was spent. Among its generous people he 
tarried a few years, where he laid the foundation of an ed 
ucation afterward finished at Michigan s institute of learn 
ing a university which is the pride of the inhabitants of 
the Peninsular State and is honored in every civilized land. 
Possessed of this capital, he removed to the then sparsely- 
settled portion of northern Michigan, which was his abid 
ing place until he came to the national capital in December. 

It is not easy to comprehend why this quiet man, in the 
midst of his preparations to join his loved ones in the far 
away but dear home, where he would observe with them 
the festival which commemorates the coming of One who 
brought "peace on earth and good will to men," should, in 
the presence of the very well and spring of life, be gathered 
to the cold company of death. His friends had thought his 
illness would be brief, and that he would soon resume his 
place. I remember, oh! so vividly, visiting him while he 
lay ill. Although he had endured but a few hours of suf 
fering, it had left its imprint of agony. Even then he was 



28 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

upon the threshold of eternity, but we who stood about him 
did not realize it. He struggled for the breath which is life. 
He was released from the anguish of the disease that was 
sapping life, for kind nature had administered the anaes 
thetic of physical insensibility. As we two friends stood 
there the lips murmured " broken words through the closing 
door which opened to one world and shut out another." The 
sister of suffering humanity who was the gentle minister of 
relief, who watched without weariness, told us that he would 
be better on the morrow. 

The morrow came ; the sun gilded dome and marble pal 
ace; the morning, with eyes full of pitying sunshine, looked 
upon the face of the dead. The unseen messenger had 
waited around that couch until the hour when the dis 
turbed chemistries of failing life could no longer resist, and 
as a new day came bore him away. He was better on the 
morrow, for as he was freed from the ligaments of the body 
he gazed upon the life to come as it is seen by the eyes of 
immortality. Wonderful mystery of life! Even greater 
mystery of death! How little, indeed, humanity knows of 
either. As we spoke to the leaden ears and told him of his 
dear ones journeying on the way to him we thought him re 
turning. How meager our knowledge. The slender cord 
that moors us to time had been slackened, and even then he 
was drifting away to that still, strange land, the shadowy 
homes of the shadows. The nation s flag that floats above us 
was that day the ensign of woe, announcing his death to 
many before unaware of his illness. 

Mr. MOFFATT had aided in and was part of the develop 
ment of his portion of^ our loved Michigan. He was ani 
mated by the same affection for that grand Commonwealth, 
his native State, that inspires all within its borders. The 
people of the section where he dwelt were not long in recog- 



Address of Mr. O Donnell, of Michigan. 29 

nixing his merits. For over twenty-one years lie served 
them in places of trust and responsibility, in positions ex 
ecutive, legislative, and financial, always to his credit and to 
their satisfaction. 

At last they called him to the high and honorable position 
of their representative in the Congress of the United States, 
where he served them faithfully for nearly three years. 
He was not wont to mingle in the strifes and forensic con 
tests on this floor, but this modest and retiring man attended 
to those other equally important duties pertaining to service 
here. He served his country and constituency with fidelity. 
It was his fortune to represent a district where but little was 
required in attending to personal interests, and he had the 
opportunity so longed for by laborers in this House to be 
come familiar with the great questions of the hour and 
study the wants and needs of all the people. He was not 
burdened with duties which are so irksome to many, the 
accumulation of which makes membership here a pillory 
rather than a post of honor. With a well-trained mind 
and application the future gave promise of greater useful 
ness. He believed the great high road of human welfare 
to lie along the old highway of steadfast well-doing, and in 
all his duties remembered the wise words of Solomon as an 
admonition: * Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
thy might. 7 All his work is ended, for he was, to our vision, 
too early summoned to the other world by death. Where 
fore? This is humanity s same, eternally renewed question 
of our lives. 

I have sketched imperfectly the life and services of SETH 
C. MOFFATT. As a citizen he met all the requirements of the 
highest citizenship. That is much indeed, and when so filled 
the title American citizen " is a proud one. As a husband 
and father he was tender, considerate, and loving. Indeed. I 



30 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

do not think this gentleman ever caused a tear save when he 
died. There was not a shred of littleness about him. He 
was always gratified at the success of any of his colleagues, 
and it is but justice to say, Mr. Speaker, the same kindly 
feeling permeates those from our State who survive him. It 
was not his intention to stay here long. His design was to- 
serve his people as best he could for the remainder of the 
term allotted to him, and then go back to his home by the 
great lake, permitting others to bear the burden we all so 
gladly assume. He would turn aside from the thorny road 
of political life and devote himself to the profession he loved 
so well. He was happy in this resolve, and hope wove its 
roses in the blue web of the future. This decision he held to 
the end , and its contemplation sustained him. The thought 
of home was the last joy of memory that followed him to the 
boundaries of life. 

This useful life is over and its reward cometh. Occasions- 
like this bring to mind the Persian prayer, first uttered in 
the youth of the world, which comes down to us through the 
centuries with all its beauty of truth, "Purity and glory are 
sown for them that are pure and upright in heart. " In utter 
ing the words of praise for this life whose heart throbbings 
are stilled, we speak them as reverently as we would lay our 
hands upon the face of the dead. 

The people among whom his manhood s years were passed 
evinced their deep regret at his departure from the world. 
They who trusted and honored him in the past lament the- 
termination of a career with which their hopes were so closely 
interwoven, and to his family they with gentle hand and 
tender hearts would have lifted aside the veil of sorrow.. 
They and we mournfully realize 

Nothing is our own; we hold our pleasures 

First a little while, ere they are fled. 
One by one life robs us of our treasures; 

Nothing is our own except our dead. 



Address of J/r. Osborne, of Pennsylvania. 31 

ADDRESS OF MR. WHITING, OF MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Speaker, I esteem it a very great privilege and a pleas 
ure to add in a very few words my testimony on this occasion. 
For it was my good fortune also to have a personal acquaint- 
tance with the one in whose memory to-day this House lays 
aside its restless, urgent business and devotes most profit 
ably more than a passing thought to the life and character 
of one whom to know was a pleasure and a benefit, and in 
whose death this House lost one of its most upright, consist 
ent, and honored members. 

Free from selfish ambition or personal resentment, he was 
loved by every true man with whom he was thrown in con 
tact. Genial and unpretending, he had a face and a man 
ner which inspired confidence and secured good will. Ris 
ing above the politician, he was a statesman above reproach 
from partisan or opponent a pride to the State of Michigan, 
one whom in life she "delighted to honor" and in death she 
will not forget. SETH C. MOFFATT builded well his own 
monument, for the memory and the influences of his pure 
life will live when the chiselings of marble will have been 
effaced and the emblems of mortal greatness have decayed. 



ADDRESS OF MR. OSBORNE, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Mr. Speaker, SETH C. MOFFATT was my friend. I can not 
therefore allow the hour to pass without paying a tribute of 
respect to his memory. He was held in very high esteem 
by all gentlemen who were acquainted with him and who 
knew his excellent qualities of head and heart. He was one 
of those pleasant, warm-hearted men whose company is al- 



32 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

ways appreciated and whose deportment is commended by 
the best society. 

Born in Michigan, educated in her schools and at her uni 
versity, he there laid the foundations for a life of useful and 
intelligent action that brought distinction to himself and re 
flected honor 011 his native land. Indeed, his career is one to 
which his friends can point with just pride and from which 
may be drawn many practical lessons worthy of emulation 
by the youth of our land. I think his life is a striking ex 
ample of the great work energy may accomplish when di 
rected by an earnest devotion to truth and honor. 

Few men have been more successful in producing solid 
results from life s battle than was he. Starting from an 
unpretending station, in the brief period of forty-five years 
he became a distinguished member of the bar, a leading and 
influential State senator, speaker of the lower house of the 
Michigan legislature, a member of the constitutional com 
mission, delegate to the Republican national convention, a 
Representative from Michigan in the Forty-ninth and in the 
Fiftieth Congress of the United States. 

Chosen and rechosen, always indorsed by the people in 
his official stations; placed in the balance and never found 
wanting. 

In truth, here was a man whose early death is most deeply 
to be deplored. 

A quiet, modest man, who had a soul radiant with heav 
enly light. Full of generous, sympathetic impulses for his 
fellow-man, I do not wonder that his people mourned and 
refused to be comforted when they realized that he had 
passed away and had gone out from amongst them forever. 

I would pour oil and wine into -the broken and contrite 
hearts of his bereaved family. 

They have sustained a loss no words I may sound can al- 



J &lt;/&lt;//&gt;. s.s nf Mr. Osborne, of Pennsylvania. 33 

leviate. His taking off was so unexpected ; so near the 
Christmas season, when the heart is aglow with affection, it 
did not seem possible that one so noble and true, and useful 
in the affairs of life, could be then selected as a target for 
death. 

It is touchingly sad to those who knew him to remember 
how anxiously he was looking forward to the time when his 
dear wife and children would join him at Washington for 
the winter. Only the day before he was confined to his bed 
he dwelt upon their coming with unusual warmth of feel 
ing, and rejoiced exceedingly when he thought the day of 
their coming could not be deferred much longer. 

Alas! how weak and insignificant is man. In the midst of 
our greatest prosperity we are traveling nearest the brink 
of destruction. When just ready to take a sip from the cup 
of earthly sweetness, it is turned to bitter gall. 

His wife and children came ; but how changed the condi 
tions ! The wife a widow and the children fatherless; the 
affectionate husband, the kind and loving parent, cold in 
death. The tenderest affections of the human heart are 
suddenly scalded by the bitterest tears of bereavement. 

Human sympathy in such a presence is best shown in 
silence, bowing in humble submission to Him who sitteth on 
the circle of eternity and ruleth the universe. 

Men build cities and endow institutions of charity and die 
remembered for their beneficence. They erect the splendid 
mausoleum pointing towards heaven and cover it all over 
with the story of their deeds, and die hoping that the world 
will not willingly forget their names and memory. They 
stamp the record of their deeds upon their age in letters of 
enduring brass that generations yet unborn may rise up and 
call them great. 

By the grave of SETH C. MOFFATT I would plant a rose 
H. Mis. 57? 



34 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

and a honey-suckle. I would bedew them with my tears. 
His name is written by the hand of affection in the hearts 
of the people, and there his memory is inscribed and will 
remain, a lasting tribute to truth and honor, a noble ex 
ample of an upright life and an evidence of the blessings of 
our free institutions. 



ADDRESS OF MR. CANNON, OF ILLINOIS. 

Mr. Speaker, SETH C. MOFFATT and I were friends. Dur 
ing his service in the Forty-ninth Congress we lived at the 
same hotel, were associates and companions, and were seat- 
mates in the Fiftieth Congress. There was no member of 
the House to whom I was more attached. He was an honest, 
candid, able, modest man, a- lawyer by profession. Nature 
gave him an excellent legal mind, which, aided by industry 
and character, enabled him to rank with the first class in 
his profession. 

Members of this body rarely, if ever, do themselves jus 
tice as legislators in the first Congress of their service. Mr. 
MOFFATT was not an exception to this rule. Knowing his 
competency, his friends frequently urged him to take an ac 
tive part in the debates of the House; he generally declined, 
saying he would quietly serve one term in Congress and 
be more active in the future in the event of his continued 
service. His attainments at the bar, and his legisla 
tive experience in his State, having served in the Michigan 
legislature as speaker of the house of- representatives, 
coupled with his sterling personal qualities and liberal cult 
ure, promised a career in the House honorable to himself 
and useful to the country. His was a character that grew 
on those with whom he came in contact. He was of that 



Address of Mr. Hayes, of loint. ;;;&gt; 

.-lass of men who can be depended upon 1&lt;&gt; do their part, lo 
answer the drafts drawn up&lt;&gt;n them. It is such men in 
public ami private life that make &lt;&gt;ur civilization liotli 
stable and progressive. 

During Mr. MOFFATT S last illness I saw him frequently. 
He sull ered greatly, yet was cheerful and hopeful. Neit her 
he nor his friends apprehended that his disease was t&lt;&gt; prove 
fatal. He greatly desired to spend the approaching holi 
days at his home in Michigan with his wife and children, 
neighbors and friends, insisting that he could make the jour 
ney in his then condition. 

On Monday prior to his decease on Wednesday, he real 
ized that his strength was not sufficient to warrant the jour 
ney. His last conscious act was the writing of telegrams 
to his wife and son that he could not be with them on 
Christmas, but hoped the family would be together at home 
and have as good a time as possible. We telegraphed 
wife to come. She did not arrive until after his decease en 
Wednesday. He was spending an eternal holiday on the 
other shore. 

Of the state for us all on the other side, we only know 
through faith and hope. To my mind the most reasonable 
hope as to the future is that each one will find a place ac 
cording to his loves. I shall be content ay, more, glad 
if, when my time comes to cross to the unknown, I shall find 
a place in company with SETH C. MOFFATT and such as he. 



ADDRESS OF MR. HAYES, OF IOWA. 

Mr. Speaker, there are quite a number of the members of 
this House that knew more of Mr. MOFFATT in his man 
hood than myself, but I doubt if any more keenly deplored 
his untimely death or had more occasion for such feeling. 



36 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

His father and my own were pioneer doctors in Michigan 
when it was a Territory and practically a wilderness, living 
but 12 miles apart, and he and I were born in the same 
county in the same year, and were classmates at the Michi 
gan University, graduating in the same class from the law 
department of that institution. While there a strong 
friendship developed between us, and cordial and pleasant 
relations were always afterwards maintained. When I was 
elected a member of this House I instinctively turned to 
wards him, not only as a friend but as an adviser and assist 
ant, on account of his experience in the duties and details of 
business here. 

After leaving Ann Arbor he settled in a part of Michigan 
distant from myself, and I soon left the State, so that I saw 
but little of him personally thereafter until meeting him 
here; but I always watched his course with interest and re 
joiced at his successes in life. However, from so watching 
his course, from seeing him as I did, and from the universal 
testimony of all who knew him, I feel competent to correctly 
speak of him, and I know that he was in his manhood the 
natural outgrowth and development of his early promise. It 
has been well said: * The childhood shows the man, as morn 
ing shows the day." He was spotless in his character, and 
his integrity, probity, and honor were never questioned. In 
his profession and life he was eminently successful, and not 
by the mere glamour of brilliancy and transcendent genius, 
but rather by force of character, industry, integrity, stu- 
diousness, level-headed judgment, good habits, a determina 
tion to do his duty under all circumstances, and, withal, a 
laudable but reasonable ambition. 

These qualities, as is almost always the case, led to suc 
cess in life, and to an honorable position among men. At 
the very threshold of his career his ability as a lawyer and 



.lr/.//v.s.v &lt;&gt;f Mr. Hayen, of Ian;,. ;\~ 

worth as a man were recognized, and he was elected pne- 
cut ing attorney, filling this important position for sonic ten 
years. Following this In- was a State senator in Michigan. 
a member of its constitutional commission, register of the 
United States land office, and for two years was a member 
of the Michigan house of representatives, and during this 
time served as its speaker, receiving such just r cognition 
from his party that when elected to this important and re- 
sponsil de position he was a new member of that body. In 
1884 he was a delegate to the Republican national conven 
tion at Chicago, and in the same year was elected a member 
of this body and had so continued until his untimely death. 
which occurred in the vigor of his manhood and at a time- 
when it is reasonable to suppose his usefulness had just 
commenced. 

When his various positions of honor, trust, and responsi- 
bility are considered, and it is remembered that they were 
all tilled with credit to himself and an eye single to the in 
terests of those whom he represented, and when in connec 
tion with this his life as a whole is viewed, it may well be 
said that .his death was a public calamity as well as an incon 
solable loss to his family and friends. It has, however, a 
bright side in the knowledge that the sum of his life and 
labors was a heritage of honor to his family and a shining 
mark well worth the emulation of all men. 

Whoe er amidst the sons 
Of reason, valor, liberty, and virtue 
Displays distiniruisltcd merit, is a noble 
Of Nature s own creating. 



38 Life and Character of Setli C. Moffatt. 



ADDRESS OF MR. CHIPMAN, OF MICHIGAN, 

Mr. Speaker, I regret that my first utterance in this House 
is on an occasion of sadness, yet I am proud, very proud, that 
my native State has been represented here by a man entirely 
worthy of the encomiums which have just been bestowed 
on Mr. MOFFATT. 

In this age of ribald criticism and irresponsible accusation 
it is a great pleasure to know that a good man has been here. 
He indulged in no vain babblement on this floor, no fierce 
shrieking to catch the ear of fame. He was true and honest, 
consistent, laborious, useful. What higher eulogy can be 
passed on any man ? Useful, sir, above everything - a faith 
ful, efficient representative of his people. I do not say that 
he has anchored his name in history. How many have done 
that in the past how many will do it in the future ? 

So it is saying a great deal to say that he was honest, he 
was useful, and that he has lain down to pleasant slumbers. 
The decent respect of this occasion is honestly his. 

The actions of the just 
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust. 

Arid he, though he has passed from mortal ken, has left 
us the perfume of his charity and kindliness. 

Let us hope that all is well with him beside the great lake 
and beneath the snow of his native State the beneficent 
snow which ripens the glory of the golden grain and pre 
sages the prosperity of happy homes. 



of Mr. Gfattinger, of New //a////&gt;.s7//&gt;p. 39 



ADDRESS OF MR. GALLINGER, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

Mr. Speaker, I esteem it a great honor to have been in 
vited, on this sad occasion, to bring a single utterance of ten 
der and loving tribute to the memory of our late associate, 
SETH C. MOFFATT. Others, who knew him longer and bet 
ter than I, have spoken of his distinguished public services 
and of his superior qualities of head and heart. I knew him 
only from the opening of the Forty-ninth Congress, but his 
gentle manners and quiet, unobtrusive life attracted my at 
tention and led me to have a warm feeling of friendship for 
him. Our acquaintance began almost on the first day of 
the session, and many pleasant hours were spent in talking 
of the great possibilities and wonderful progress of the dis 
trict he represented. Mackinac Island, that spot of almost 
unequaled beauty, around which cluster delightful tradi 
tions and historic memories, the marvelous lakes and rivers 
of the great State of Michigan, the famous "Soo," with its 
grand canal, unrivaled water-power, and magnificent com 
merce all these served as topics for interesting conversa 
tion between us. His love for his State was sublime. On 
that theme he talked con amore, while on all general sub 
jects he was a man of remarkable intelligence, wide culture, 
and great breadth of view. Withal, he was an amiable, 
honorable, conscientious gentleman. 

His life was gentle, an( i the elements 

So mixed in him that Nature mi^ht stand up 

And say to all the world, " This was a man ! " 

When the Fiftieth Congress met no warmer grasp was 
given my hand than by our late friend and associate. Then 
came the intelligence of his serious illness, and my heart, 
accustomed in a professional way to the anxieties and sor- 



40 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

rows of the sick-chamber, went out in deepest sympathy 
to this good man. who, away from home and friends and 
family, was being ministered to by the hands of strangers. 
Death came soon, and the Christmas season, so full of joy 
and gladness to most of earth, brought unutterable grief to 
those who knew him best and loved him most. The devoted 
wife, on her mission of love, found when she reached Wash 
ington that death had preceded her, and then she realized, 
as every stricken and bleeding heart realizes, that 

Along the roadside where we pass bloom few 
Gay plants of heart s-ease, more of saddening rue. 

Mr. Speaker, I need not say more. Mine is but the trib 
ute of a word. Our friend has gone never to return. He 
has escaped from the contentions and antagonisms of this 
world, and entered upon a better and higher life. Let us, 
in honoring his memory as we do to-day, strive to emulate 
his virtues, and to so live that it may be said of us as we 
would say of him : 

The good, they drop around us on? by one. 

Like stars when morning breaks ; though lost to sight, 

Around us are they still, in heaven s own light, 

Building their mansions in the purer zone 

Of the invisible ; when round are thrown 

Shadows of sorrow, still serenely bright 

To faith they gleam ; and blest be sorrow s night, 

That brings the o erarching heavens in silence down, 

A mantle set with orbs unearthly fair ! 

They dwell, divinely dwell, in memory-, 

While life s sun declining bids us for the night prepare, 

That we, with urns of light, and our task done, 

May stand with them at last in lot unchangeable. 



&lt;&gt;f Mr. Cnnijt r. f Imrn. 41 



ADDRESS OF MR. CONGER, OF IOWA. 

Mr. Speaker, this House has to-day put away the bustle and 
tumult of ordinary work to pay a merited tribute of respect 
and love to the memory of one of our number who has been 
n -i -fatly called to a higher life, a nobler work. It is for us 
a sad yet grateful service. Sad because the places that have 
known our brother here shall know him no more forever ; 
grateful for the associations hallowed by his presence ; sad 
because of his untimely death, yet grateful for the sweet 
memories of his eventful life. 

SETH C. MOFFATT was one of the first acquaintances I 
made in the Forty- ninth Congress ; our first hand-shake was 
under such circumstances as made us friends, and I have 
ever counted that day blessed which gave me such a friend. 
I therefore gladly bring my laurel branch for the rhaplft 
that we on this occasion shall weave for the memories and 
the victories of our departed colleague. 

Others have most eloquently told the story of his distin 
guished life, of his birth, his boyhood, and manhood, all in his 
own loved Michigan, and of his splendid service to his native 
State. I only knew him here, in this national capital. But 
I knew him thoroughly ; knew him as faithful and industri 
ous representative, as able and conscientious legislator, as 
genial companion, as Crusted friend, as devoted husband, r.s 
loving father, and as a Christian, manly man. 

There is no place in the world where the measure of a man 
is more quickly and accurately taken than upon this floor. 
This measurement placed SETH MOFFATT high up on the 
roll. His words were few, but his sentences were golden ; 
his judgment was safe, and his convictions unfaltering. 
A a t rii-ii l, he was ever kind and true; as a husband, he 



42 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

was tender and thoughtful; as a father, most loving and in 
dulgent. His family circle was truly and in the strictest 
sense a home. He gave every spare moment from his pro 
fessional and public duties to his family, and was idolized 
by every member of it. His children and 

His loving wife beguiled him more than Fame s emblazoned zeal, 
And one sweet note of tenderness than Triumph s loudest peal. 

As a citizen he was of the highest type. He was a man 
of profound reverence, of unfaltering faith in God and im 
plicit trust in His divine promises, and a firm believer in the 
immortality of the soul. He also believed that moral char 
acter was salvation; that in this and all worlds men should 
and would be happy or miserable according to their deserts. 
He saw the revelations of God in the laws and forces of the 
universe and in the thoughts and loves of mankind. 

He was a religious evolutionist, basing his hope for the 
future upon the record of the past, beholding a constant de 
velopment in the spiritual as in the physical world, and hop 
ing for an outcome of creation which would justify the infi 
nite wisdom, the infinite love, and the infinite fatherhood of 
the Creator. His was a religion broad enough, deep enough, 
and high enough to take in all mankind. He believed and 
very often said that 

There s a wideness in God s mercy, 

Like the wideuess of the sea; 
There s a kindness in His justice 

Which is more than liberty. , 

And his daily walk was ever consistent with and contin 
uously emphasized his religious faith. 

Our friend was indeed small of stature, but in the kind 
ness of his great heart, in the depth and strength of his 
friendship, in the tenderness and trustfulness of his love, in 
his devotion to duty, in the incomparable power and un 
stinted reverence of his intellect, in his faith that over all 




j. , . &gt;x o) Mr. &lt; ongi r, / /""&lt;/. 4.". 



and blrssing forever, he was a 
pleto, well-rounded man. u splendid type of those mm wh&lt; 
have given strength and glory to the past and promise secu 
rity and perpetuity for the future of our Republic. 

What constitutes a state? 
Not high-raise 1 battlement or labored mound. 

Thick wall, or moated Rate; 
Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned; 

Not bays and broad-armed ports, 
Where, laughing at the storm, proud navies ride; 

Nor starred and sj angled courts, 
Where low -browed Baseness wafts perfume to pride. 

No! Men, high-minded men, 
With powers as far above dull brutes endued, 

lu forest, brake, or den, 
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude; 

Men who their duties know, 
But know their ri.hts, and, knowing, dare maintain! 

These constitute a state. 

Of just such men was SETH C. MOFFATT. On the 22d 
day of December last he died; but as sure as God s sun 
shines he lives again. His life was a noble mission. Our 
heritage is his blessed memory. Let us emulate his virtues 
and profit by his example. 

The question being then taken on the resolutions submit 
ted by Mr. Burrows, they were adopted unanimously; and 
in accordance with the concluding resolution the House (at 
5 o clock and 20 minutes p. m.) adjourned. 



PROCEEDINGS IX THE SENATE. 



DECEMBER 22, 1887. 

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. 
Clark, its Clerk, announced the death of Hon. SETH C. MOF- 
FATT, a Representative from the State of Michigan, and 
communicated the resolutions of the House thereon. 

Mr. PALMER. I ask for the reading of the resolutions of 
the House of Representatives. % 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The resolutions will be read. 
The Chief Clerk read as follows: 

IN THE Housz OF REPRESENTATIVES. December 22. 1887. 

Resolved, That the House lias heard with sincere regret the announce 
ment of the death of Hon. SETH C. MOFFATT, late a Representative from 
the State of Michigan. 

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That 
a select joint committee consisting of seven meniljers of the House and 
three members of the Senate be apjxiinted to take orders for suj&gt;erintend- 
ing the funeral and escort the remains of the deceased to their place of 
burial, and the necessary expenses attending the execution of this order 
be paid out of the contingent fund of the House. 

Resolved. That the Sorgeant-at-Arms of the House be authorized and 
directed to take such steps as may be necessary for properly carrying out 
the provisions of these resolutions. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate the foregoing resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Ix THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. December 22. 1887. 
Ordered, That Mr. Cutcheon, Mr. Ford, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Wade, Mr. 
Fisher, Mr. Lyman, and Mr. Shively be the committee on the part of tin- 
House. 

4o 



46 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

Mr. PALMER. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which 
I send to the desk. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The resolutions submitted 
by the Senator from Michigan will be read. 
The Chief Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate lias heard with deep sensibility the an 
nouncement of the death of Hon. SETH C. MOFFATT, late a Representa 
tive from the State of Michigan. 

Resolved, That the Senate concur in the resolution of the House of 
Representatives providing for the appointment of a joint committee to 
take order for superintending the funeral, and to escort the remains of the 
deceased to Traverse City, Mich., and that the members of the committee 
on the part of the Senate be appointed by the President pro tempore. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on agreeing 
to the resolutions. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 

Mr. PALMER. Mr. President, I give notice that at some 
future time I shall introduce resolutions commemorative of 
the merits of the deceased, which will afford an opportunity 
for remarks to be made upon the same. I now, out of re 
spect to the memory of the deceased, move that the Senate 
adjourn. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Before submitting the mo 
tion, the Chair will announce as the committee on the part 
of the Senate Messrs. Palmer, Teller, and Jones of Arkan 
sas. The Senator from Michigan moves that the Senate do- 
now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to, and the Senate adjourned. 

MARCH 15, 1888. 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Pursuant to the notice 
given by the Senator from Michigan [Mr. Palmer] on the 
5th instant, the Chair lays before the Senate resolutions from 
the House of Representatives, which will be read. 



/ /&lt;/ &lt; f///m/.s- //&lt; //;/ &gt;,V miff . 47 

The Secretary n-a-1 as follows : 

IN THK II"! a "i Ki i la-.sr.NTATivKs. l &lt;l&gt;ruary2Q, 1888. 

Resolved, Tlmt the business of the Bouse be suspended, that .suitable 
honor&gt; may !&gt;- paid to the memory of Hon. SETH C. MOFFATT, late a 
Keprescntative from tli!- State of Michigan. 

/;..-,.//-,. , Tliat in the death of Mr. MOITATT the country has sustained 
the los-; of a safe legislator, a patriotic citizen, and an able and faithful 
public servant. 

/; Wm/. That as a furtlier mark of respec-t to his memory the House 
at tlie conclusion of these ceremonies shall adjourn. 

That the House communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 



Mr. PALMER. I offer the resolutions which I send to the 
desk for the consideration of the Senate. 

A 

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The resolutions submit 
ted by the Senator from Michigan will be read. 

The Secretary read as follows : 



l, That the Senate receives with &lt;if-p sensibility the announce 
ment of the death of Hon. SETH C. MOFFATT, late a member of the House- 
&lt;&gt;t Representatives from the State of Michigan, anil tenders to the family 
and relatives of the deceased the assurance of its sympathy in their be- 
reavemen*. 

Resolved, That the Secretary transmit a copy of the foregoing resolu- 
s to the family of Mr. 2IOFF.ATT. 



48 Life and Character of Setli C. Mqffatt. 



ADDRESS OF MR. PALMER, OF MICHIGAN. 

Mr. President, the apothegm "speak nothing save good 
of the dead "has given rise to the epigram "false as an 
epitaph." 

It is easy for a friend to pronounce a eulogy on a "bad man. 
The mantle of charity covers all that is ill, and leaves affec 
tion free to create or portray an ideal, which tradition, forti 
fied by friendship, can only partially justify. 

The hand of the rustic artist may ca-rve the fungi into 
attractive forms or paint the faces of its sections with sug 
gestive and aesthetic scenes, but dense and valuable woods 
admit of no such freedom of treatment. 

It is so of character. Where there is nothing for charity 
or regard to conceal, where there are virtues manifold, one 
must be careful to curb the imagination, lest a departure 
from exactness may throw discredit on a recital of qualities 
which truly reported make up a symmetiical whole. 

Some men attain prominence by accident, some by effort, 
and some grow into it as naturally as the palm among lesser 
trees. The first may acquit themselves well for a brief 
season; the second often desire the insignia without the 
effort, and soon pass out of public sight; the third remain 
because their growth lias put them there, and nature makes 
no mistakes. 

Of the latter class was the man of whom I speak to-day. 
Twas not his fortune to figure in dramatic combinations; 
there was nothing startling in his career, at least to the 
outside world. What he achieved he had done quietly. 
Of slight frame and delicate organization, he was not fitted 
for many of those mental efforts which resemble the stroke 
of Richard of the Lion Heart. His was rather the scimiter 



Address of Mr. Palmer, of Mich if/an. 4 ( .&gt; 

of Saladin, and what lie did in influencing men was done by 
the subtle stroke of a finely-tempered mind not that he 
ever dealt in finesse or chicanery; they were foreign to his 
nature. 

He was atmospheric in his influence. Men were prepared 
to love him before they saw him, and they wished to agree 
with him before they knew him. It was not because lie was 
effeminate that he was not aggressive, for when occasion 
demanded there were none of truer courage than he. His 
differences were never intensified by hate nor his opposition 
re-enforced by malice. He was a gentle man; not in the 
oriental sense, merely a mystic and a dreamer, for his life 
shows him to have been a worker and a man of results. 

Sent to Congress by a constituency as sturdy as any, and 
more intelligent than most, men and women of culture and 
refinement, people who not only have accomplished but are 
still accomplishing, he had acquitted himself in a manner 
fully up to their expectations. 

He was born forty-six years ago ; not much of a space 
in a geological epoch or in the span of history, but it was 
enough to permit him to develop, to exfoliate, and to become 
and remain a man. There was nothing unusual in his youth \ 
there was nothing but what he shared in common with thou 
sands of others in his early manhood. His was steady nor 
mal growth from the cradle to the grave. 

He filled many positions of dignity and trust ; he was never 
found wanting, He was a member and speaker of the Mich 
igan house of representatives, State senator, member of the 
constitutional convention, delegate to the Republican na 
tional convention, a member of the Forty-ninth and Fif 
tieth Congresses. To those who know with what eagerness 
these prizes are pursued by the men whose lungs are inflated 
by the winds of the prairies tempered by the Great Lakes, 
H. Mis. 577 4 



50 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

where to be happy one must work, where the ozone of 
the air and the fruits of the earth contribute to the crea 
tion of forceful and the stimulation of feeble men, this 
record when read would incarnate the qualities required for 
successful competition in the frame of an athlete. On the 
contrary, this man achieved all this, or rather, he grew into 
it, retarded, as one might think, by a frame and physique as 
delicate as a woman s. Nay more, he sustained himself in 
each of them. 

He was a lawyer ; but his career was never tainted by a 
suspicion of barratry or oppression. 

He was a politician ; but with him " the end did not justify 
the means. " His political life was subjected to and will bear 
the measurement of the severest code of morals. 

He was a friend ; and those coming in contact with him 
needed no assurance that he was true. 

He was a husband ; and in that far northern home, on the 
banks of that beautiful lake, amid the whispering pines and 
mournful hemlocks, a silent widow sheds unavailing tears 
:above the grave of a companion regardful, chaste, and affec 
tionate. 

He was a father. Children " climbed his knee the envied 
kiss to share ;" but his ambition for them was not that they 
should achieve distinction or acquire wealth, but that they 
should have and practice virtue. 

He was a religious man not in a sectarian sense. I think 
creeds would have cribbed and confined him, and arrested 
his growth ; but he had the convictions which are the bases 
of all religion. He believed in the great overruling Power, 
in immortality, and the great law of compensation which at 
last makes all things even. 

When I first met him the psychological and social chem 
icals of my nature unconsciously prepared the plate and 



Address of Mr. Palmer, of Michigan. 51 

took liis photograph. I have compared the outlines and the 
expression of my negative with my subsequent experience, 
and with others, and we all agree as to the correctness of the 
picture. 

Such was SETH C. MOFFATT, Representative of the 
Eleventh district of Michigan, who died in this city at Prov 
idence Hospital on the 22d day of December, 1887. I have 
not intended to overstate his virtues. I shall 

No farther seek his merits to disclose, 
Ordraw his frailties from their dread abode. 

His frailties I did not know. He undoubtedly had them. 
I hope so. They are incident to the most exalted natures ; 
they are essential to an exhaustive portrayal of a complete 
and lovable character ; they are the shadows which nature, 
no less than art, demands for her most perfect work. The 
hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows, the aspirations and 
temptations, the defeats, the successes of forty-six years of 
this animated life must have swayed him at times, and in all 
probability he did not escape every pitfall ; but the tenor of 
his life and the character of his sympathies assure me that 
his constant effort was toward consecutively higher planes, 
of living. 

Fine-fibered physique, kindly presence, responsive heart, 
well-balanced brain, all united in one, farewell! I know not 
what the future has in store for you ; but I feel that when 
you threw off the vestments which here fetter us all, you 
entered upon that higher arena which the soul loves to con 
template and speculate upon, spiritually clean limbed and 
anointed, and that there the great Supervisor assigned you 
your proper place. 

Among the things inscrutable on earth, and which assures 
us that we have a mortgage on eternity which our good 
friend and faithful attorney, Death, will in due time fore- 



52 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt. 

close, is tliis, that we who mourn those who have gone be 
fore have a right to know why a man so well equipped and 
impelled to give delight to others should be taken first "and 
those whose hearts are dry as summer s dust burn to the 
socket." 

Surely the blank wall against which we fruitlessly beat 
with lacerated hands, which gives back nothing but an. echo 
to our lamentations, and which to be passed must be tun 
neled by the grave, has its foundations laid partly upon 
other fields than those of earth, and when we emerge into 
the refulgent light of the other side all will be made plain. 



ADDRESS OF MR, PADDOCK, OF NEBRASKA. 

Mr. President, it was not my good fortune to know Mr. 
MOFFATT intimately, and I shall not attempt an extended re 
view of his too brief, but eventful life. Nor, indeed, is this 
necessary. Others better qualified than myself have spoken 
of his career from boyhood to its sad and sudden close; have 
told the story of his struggles, his trials, and his successes. 
The voices of his associates, here and elsewhere, who were 
bound to him by ties of affection, who honored him for his 
manliness, his quiet, unyielding persistence, and his un 
bending integrity, have been heard in generous eulogy of 
his strong, well-rounded, admirable character. 

The history of his triumphs as a lawyer and his faithful 
service as a Representative of the great Commonwealth of 
Michigan has been presented. The tributes of warm friend 
ships, ruthlessly broken by the iron hand of death, have 
been laid with tears upon his grave, and the tremulous 
tones of bereaved affection have paid the last honors to de 
parted worth. 



Address of Mr. Paddock, of Xebraska. 53 

Living in one of the busiest and most progressive of our 
western Commonwealths, where the struggle for preference 
and position is keenest, he was for more than twenty years 
identified with public life and the recipient of the confidence 
and respect of friends and neighbors. Mr. MOFFATT S career 
was steadily upward. Successive tokens of public esteem 
evidenced the high appreciation in which his services to 
his State and the nation were held by those best qualified 
to judge. His unswerving integrity, his fidelity to every 
obligation, cemented friendships which will continue a 
pleasant memory to many long after beneficent Nature has 
effaced the marks of his newly-made grave. 

Mr. MOFFATT was in the full meridian of life. He had 
achieved success by labor. He had won his way to honor 
able distinction by the inherent force of his character. Men 
respected him for what he was, not for what he seemed to 
be. His homely virtues commended him to those who ad 
mired sincerity, who abhorred mere display, and by whom 
the shams of society and the veneer in which false pretense 
and deception masquerade as honesty and truth were con 
demned. 

He was in every sense of the word a self-poised man. His 
natural reserve was born of an innate modesty which de 
clined self-assertion at the expense of self-respect. With a 
firm grasp on his mental resources, which were large, he 
preferred the esteem of his wide circle of friends to the 
fickle applause of the galleries or the evanescent notoriety 
of the press. A student of the political problems of the day, 
well equipped to grapple with topics affecting the national 
welfare, he was content to leave largely to others the acri 
mony of partisan debate and the bitterness of political con 
troversy. 

His mind was essentially a legal one. He was conserva- 



54 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffatt, 

tive in arriving at conclusions, slow to express an opinion, 
but when his judgment had crystallized an impression into 
a conviction it became the guiding motive of his action. 

It was said of SETH C. MOFFATT by some that he kept 
himself in the background from excessive modesty. By 
others his reserve of manners was taken for indifference. 
He was far from indifferent. Keenly and properly sensi 
tive of the great world around him, he was particularly re 
gardful of the desires and interests of friends and the de 
mands of the State which had honored itself by repeatedly 
honoring him. 

Mr. President, death has removed from the councils of 
the nation an able, an honest man, and an experienced legis 
lator. Words of praise in the presence of the dread de 
stroyer seem at best cold and formal. They can not tame the 
night of his repose nor shiver the iron chain which binds 
his senseless clay. He had passed from the finite to the in 
finite, from the scenes of success into the shadows which 
shroud the future. 

But he is not altogether dead, sir! 

Non oninis rnoriar 

Exclaimed one of England s greatest writers 

if dying I yet live in a tender heart or two. 

To be rich; to be famous? What do these count a year hence, when 
other names sound louder than yours; when you lie hidden away under 
the ground along with idle titles engraven on your coffin? But only 
true love lives after you, follows your memory with secret blessings, or 
precedes and intercedes for you. 

Praised be our Lord for our sister the death of the 
body from whom no man escapeth," sang St. Francis from 
the walls of his medieval monastery. The clear vision of 
the saintly monk whose life had been worn away in works 
of charity, amidst sin and siiffering, saw, perchance, beyond 
"the vale between the peaks of two eternities," another 



Address of Mr. Stockbridge, of Michigan. 55 

sphere in which flagging activities and wearied souls find 
new stimulus, enlarged scope for endeavor, and peaceful 
rest. To it there is but one portal through that our friend 
has passed from sight at the end of his mortal pilgrimage. 



ADDRESS OF MR. STOCKBRIDGE, OF MICHIGAN. 

Mr. President, I can not permit this occasion to pass with 
out adding my tribute to the memory of my departed friend. 
I was intimate with Mr. MOFFATT for twenty years, and in 
all those years knew of no word or act of his that I would 
wish to forget. 

I am sure I voice the sentiment of Michigan when I say 
that no one of her citizens enjoyed more fully such confi 
dence and entire respect than he to whose memory these 
exercises are a tribute. Michigan feels proud of Mr. MOF 
FATT, for he was born, educated, and grew to manhood 
within her borders. He served her well in her legislature, 
as speaker of her house of representatives, as a member of 
her constitutional commission, and in the Congress of the 
United States, and always, everywhere, was mindful of her 
best and truest interests, and in every position in which he 
was placed did his whole duty manfully and well, so that 
through long years of public service he grew year by year 
in the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. 

His home was in one of the finest sections of his State, the 
great Traverse Bay region, a region with as intelligent and 
manly a population as any section of our country can boast 
of, and such a constituency evinced their high appreciation 
of the sterling qualities of Mr. MOFFATT by always keeping 



56 Life and Character of Seth C. Moffaft. 

him in prominent positions, to guard, protect, and further 
their interests. 

The life of Mr. MOFFATT is a signal illustration of what 
may be accomplished by one born in the middle walks of 
life, if he has the industry, good sense, ability, and honor- 
possessed by my departed friend. His life was a success, 
for he had in all respects acted well his part. From our 
common school and academy he passed through our great 
university, of which we are so proud, to our law school, 
and from there commenced the practice of his profession, 
and within a few years attained a position among the most 
eminent men at the bar in our State. In the midst of a 
rapidly growing region of his State, his business sagacity 
enabled him to accumulate a handsome competency, and his 
manly qualities and open, generous traits of character se 
cured him a noble wife from among the many fair daughters 
of Michigan. To this beloved wife and their children he 
was all a loving and kind husband and fond father could 
be. So I repeat, his life was a success, and a noble illustra 
tion of what life may be in this favored country of ours. 

In that far-off home, as a citizen, a neighbor, he has left 
the impress of his life and character upon all who knew 
him, and he will be held in honored and loving remem 
brance. He has left his monument in human hearts, more 
enduring than any marble column. 

Those who knew him well could not fail to be impressed 
with the gentleness and amiability of his character. There 
were no bitter ingredients in his composition ; goodness, 
charity, and a good heart were the foundation of his broad 
views and sympathy with mankind. Though his opinions 
were clearly defined and his convictions positive, he was 
utterly incapable of narrow prejudice or bitter enmity; and 
while he entered with vigor and enthusiasm into the busi- 



Address of Mr. Stockbridye, of Michigan. 57 

i it-ss life of his favored region, still his greatest enjoyment 
was in the quiet and affection of his own home, and among 
those he loved so well he found contentment and rest. He 
was generous and warm in his attachments ; there was 
nothing calculating in his friendship. 

Well do I remember his cordial, hearty greeting upon 
my arrival here December last, and his honest and warm 
assurance that he was glad I was to be here. His open and 
manly directness of speech won him the confidence of all. 

I have spoken of my departed friend, Mr. MOFFATT, as a 
citizen, as a legislator, and a friend. As to what he was to 
his own home and to his family is not for any to tell, for 
none can tell. The hearts most bereaved by his death know 
not their own bitterness only, but the rich treasure they 
have held and still hold, forever. It is not for even a friend 
to enter that sanctuary. 

His faith was unfaltering in everything fundamental to 
Christianity, and he held with a firm grasp the old and the 
true, and his daily life was the. best possible proof of his 
sincerity. 

Happy for us if we each, as the shadows lengthen, are 
filled with the hope which sustained him, and as the even 
ing draws on can as serenely give up our account for the 
day s work, feeling that it has been faithfully done. 

Mr. PALMER. I now move the adoption of the resolu 
tions. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 

Mr. PALMER. I move, as a further mark of respect to the 
memory of our deceased friend, that the Senate adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to ; and the Senate 
H. Mis. 577 5 







LOAN DEPT 



TIME 




J.S. 5oth 
Cong,,, 1st 




UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 



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